I’d like to be able to map my spectate function to a different key. On the laptop I use, the F12 key also happens to be the key that turns Airplane mode on and I’ve had moments where I’ve accidentally disconnected my server trying to view the progress of other players mid game. In order to switch viewpoints properly I have to hit alt+f12 to toggle between viewpoints. It gets kind of annoying. If there’s another way I could go about avoiding this issue it would be appreciated besides the typical, “Well, just make sure you don’t forget to press alt before f12.”

Iíd like to be able to map my spectate function to a different key. On the laptop I use, the F12 key also happens to be the key that turns Airplane mode on and Iíve had moments where Iíve accidentally disconnected my server trying to view the progress of other players mid game. In order to switch viewpoints properly I have to hit alt+f12 to toggle between viewpoints. It gets kind of annoying. If thereís another way I could go about avoiding this issue it would be appreciated besides the typical, ďWell, just make sure you donít forget to press alt before f12.Ē

In a file called 'autoexec.cfg' in the root of your SRB2 folder (if there is none there then make one) add this line to the end:

Code:

bind <key name> "changeteam spectator"

where '<key name>' is the name of the key you wish to use to spectate. The key name is usually as it appears on your keyboard (i.e 'A' for the 'A' key) unless it is a special key.

I think this is one of the Main problems with SRB2, It's designed based on the feedback taken only from it's own community, It's has to be open minded and listen to feedback from everyone if it were to appeal to bigger audience, offer SRB2 to any outsider and he will quickly notice how slippery the controls are and how hard to control the game is.

I did that twice and received similar criticism, with some saying it looks very disorienting and others saying it looks hard to control.

You're right that the developers need to listen to a wider audience to avoid being insular, but blindly following what's popular is an easy way to drive away everyone who currently likes the game and kill the active community dead. There's things we've been doing instead such that the twain may meet; remember the big newspost we made in November? The autobrake (which veteran players can turn off) directly addresses the slippery control thing. There's also plans for a tutorial on first boot that pre-existing players have the option to skip (we don't know when that'll be done, but steps are being taken towards it...)

SRB2 isn't perfect, and we absolutely need to do a bunch of things to make it suck less for new people. But that doesn't mean we sabotage the existing userbase.

It's also worth pointing out that we actually do testing with people outside the community. Personally speaking, I've had friends I know IRL beta test content for me since 2.1's devtime, particularly singling out people who haven't played (or even heard of) the game before in order to gauge all sorts of things about the game in general, as well as my specific contributions to it. And I know for a fact I'm not the only one who does this. We've also had discussions on things internally because of YouTube videos and LPs regarding the game about more specific issues that we can point out and try and address. So I'm really not sure where you're coming up with the idea that we aren't paying attention to things outside the community.

offer SRB2 to any outsider and he will quickly notice how slippery the controls are and how hard to control the game is.

Except we all saw those SRB2 Videos IGN and ProJared did, including the devs, which is why DirectionChar exists, AutoBrake is being merged into 2.2, a tutorial level is in the works, and analog mode is hopefully being hidden away until someone "fixes" that.

It's has to be open minded and listen to feedback from everyone if it were to appeal to bigger audience, offer SRB2 to any outsider and he will quickly notice how slippery the controls are and how hard to control the game is.

The thing is, SRB2 isn't slippery and hard to control. Look at any experienced player playing the game and it's quite obvious the controls are great. The actual problem is that the controls are not intuitive.

Players new to SRB2 will look at the game and (reasonably) expect that the game controls and acts like modern Sonic. It doesn't. Not only does it not act like modern Sonic's controls, we do allow the player to make it badly fake modern Sonic's controls with analog, and when they do they find it hysterically slippery because while analog initially appears to emulate modern Sonic's controls but it doesn't at all.

This is the reason for introducing auto-brake, directionchar, and accepting that we need to create a tutorial. It's not that our game controls badly; it's that we do a terrible job of explaining to players how to play our game. They then assume that it controls a way that it doesn't, and then they have a terrible experience playing because of that.

How about a Better Boss Camera? I felt like the Boss Camera sucked. You can't even see well the Bosses and some are hard to predict the moves, like Black Eggman and Metal Sonic but others aren't, such as Eggscalibur and Egg Mobile/Egg-o-Matic, for example. There should be a special camera in Boss Arenas to see where the Boss is, just like SA1(DX)/SA2(B) and Jon Burton's unofficial Director's Cut version of Sonic 3D Blast, which is personally, the best way to play that game nowadays. (sorry saturn/pc version)

How about a Better Boss Camera? I felt like the Boss Camera sucked. You can't even see well the Bosses and some are hard to predict the moves, like Black Eggman and Metal Sonic but others aren't, such as Eggscalibur and Egg Mobile/Egg-o-Matic, for example. There should be a special camera in Boss Arenas to see where the Boss is, just like SA1(DX)/SA2(B) and Jon Burton's unofficial Director's Cut version of Sonic 3D Blast, which is personally, the best way to play that game nowadays. (sorry saturn/pc version)

So, this is actually another quirk of our bad teaching. Tracking the boss is actually quite important as a mechanic in this game, but we introduce it totally wrong. We have a first boss with a dash mechanic for crying out loud. Players who can't even handle the controls well enough to track the boss certainly are going to have a tough time when the boss is charging around.

We are planning to fix this by introducing significant boss movement gradually instead of just assuming the player can control the camera flawlessly from the beginning. Again, this is part of our attempt to introduce the game better to new players.

Maybe give players the ability to focus their camera on the first boss so when heís dashing around the camera follows him so you donít lose sight of him?

Personally, the only bosses that bother me are the DSZ3/CEZ3 bosses for their own reasons.

DSZ3 I donít know how to distinguish the clones other than trial an error in hitting them and also noticing that they wonít shoot until the real Eggman appears; but hey, at least the arena doesnít flood anymore.

With CEZ3 I learned through a panic timed jump that Sonic can jump high enough to make it over the spikeballs. Before, I would simply try my best to follow the rhythm of the spike ballsí motion. I didnít know he could jump over them because the hitboxes on the spikeballs are a bit hard to understand at least in my opinion. I swear everytime Sonic jumps over them those spikes are touching him.

And while Iím at it Iíll add that Metal Sonicís energy balls can be hard to dodge at times because you never know how many heís going to throw. Is he going to throw a row of five shots? Or will he shoot the three big spheres that require precise timing and execution to avoid.

Overall the Metal Sonic battle could really use some adjustments in terms of balance, but then again I figured since itís that last thing keeping you from the final boss then perhaps it doesnít need much balance. I did however experience a bug in a netgame where he disappeared all of a sudden. I had no WADs added. I was Supersonic during the battle if that means anything. Thereís also the possibility that heíll stay suspended in mid-air after firing his energy blasts and the only way heíll come down is if you touch him which causes you to lose rings.

Maybe give players the ability to focus their camera on the first boss so when he’s dashing around the camera follows him so you don’t lose sight of him?

Wouldn't that interfer directly with the level design ?, Camera focusing on Boss and ignoring the level, this could lead to situations where players can't see where they're going and fall into pits and hazards and such.

I suggest giving each boss level it's own unique camera setup depending on the situation (If they were to change it that is .... ).

I'll throw my two cents in that the player shouldn't have to have such obstacles in their way if they're so obstructive that, even with the camera pulled back far enough, this would be allowed to happen.

The way most games pull off a boss camera is that it focuses on the boss first and foremost but it zooms in and out dynamically to get around terrain, to me this seems significantly harder to implement with what we currently have but even then, most games don't put major obstructions in a boss arena anyway, as it gets to be too difficult to balance visibility on the major enemy that can sometimes attack you whereever you are in the arena and still maintain a fun experience. Thus, people tend to design the boss's abilities and arena's terrain around the camera and its limitations. While this can be seen as limiting, I think it's important to remember these factors so that people don't become overly frustrated with your boss.

And while Iím at it Iíll add that Metal Sonicís energy balls can be hard to dodge at times because you never know how many heís going to throw.

I might be wrong about this, but doesn't it follow a set order? Like, the first time MS does the attack, it's the row of five energy balls. The second time, it's the three giant balls one after another. The third time, it's the row again, etc.